The Three Graces

In ancient Greek religion the three Graces were the daughters of Zeus and, amongst other things, goddesses of charm, beauty and creativity.

I've just had a conversation with an old friend who is worried about losing his job and we were discussing the positives, the graces, in our lives: those that we can depend on in difficult times. 

I post the picture of the little 19th century Modern French chair covered in a silk shirting from the 1980s because it personifies for me the qualities we are going to need: grace, creativity and charm, if we are to get through these times with any sanity. 

In our own time there are goddesses of the blogosphere who bring to our attention elements of charm, grace and creativity. These Graces, many more than three,  I salute as ones I depend on - above all at times like these.  

1969

I have been trawling through an old set of bound magazines - page after page of traditional, sometimes ostentatious, decoration and then I came across this and it was like a breath of fresh air. It is as modern today as it was back in 1969.

The architect and designer, Richard Himmel, made the white interior look inviting - hard to do when the grounds outside the windows are under snow. It is difficult to see in these photos because of the split between the two images, but the lower aperture has the TV and the upper one the the fire grate -  a reversal of what is usually seen today and certainly wasn't normal back then. On the right of the fireplace the logs are held not in a basket as one might expect but in another fire grate. 

Look at the way the red is carried through the room, and look too at the arrangement of painting, prints, sconce (art?) and lamp above the rococo chest. I love this room. 

1971 - The first of an occasional series about walls

What happened to the wall as a piece of art? Or the ceiling, for that matter ...

I have loved this shade of blue/green all my life and so wanted to have a library painted in that color and I got it. What seems so lovely as a small box holding a 30th anniversary ring is scary when spread over walls, shelves and paneling. It is not that the color is too strong, though it is intense, it is that the books themselves in all their panoply of color fight with the blue. 

Such a disappointment!

I'm now considering "Clunch" from Farrow and Ball. Imagine that.